But, you don't look any older...

Yesterday turned out to be just a great birthday. Late in the afternoon ljtourist texted me that he had a delivery. I met him downstairs and he handed over these delicious delights.



Those are chocolate chip cookies with toffee bits and I'm telling you they are perfectly wonderful. They are so good, the chocolate chips are almost superfluous. I have not tried the whoopie pies yet but I know they will be good. The perfect birthday surprise.

Today is afterglow. 72 years old.

The treadmill is now on day three of no fail. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. At least I'm losing that feeling of doom when I get on it. So, whew. Still no word from the company. Customer service seems very binary to me - either superb or horrible.

I heard yesterday that the older you are the less chance you have of having adverse reactions to the COVID vaccines. Guess I'm old enough since I had no reaction at all. But, then out of all of the vaccines I've gotten in my life the only reaction I ever had was to one of the shingles vaccines. My arm got a giant red bump and it itched like crazy for several days. Small price to pay. The number of COVID cases, here in Washington state are going up and it makes me twitchy even with the vaccination.

I need to go somewhere today but I don't know where. I sure don't need any food. I could take a load of stuff to Goodwill and wander around there checking out the inventory. I might do that.

I am on the hunt for a new yarn project and am having trouble getting inspired. And soon, sadly, my great book will be over and I'll need to start the hunt for the next read. So plenty to keep me occupied and out of trouble.

Birthday Answers

(For my birthday, I asked for Ask Me Anything Questions. I got so many wonderful ones. I'm answering them in entries from here until I get to the end. If you think of something you want to ask, just leave a comment or a note. Deadline is totally not a thing.)

sherlock999 asks:


3. How did you come to get Biggie? What's the story of you two?

My cat had just died and the new cat/no cat debate was just beginning in my head. The Seattle Humane Society posted a photo of two kittens on Instagram and explained that they had Feline Leukemia and were black so were pretty much not going to be adopted.



I said fuck that and went to get them. They were five months old and just as adorable as they could be. Their names were Almond Joy - he was the big one and Mars Bar - he was the little one. Except I called them Biggie and The Smalls.



Turns out Biggie did not have Feline Leukemia. But The Smalls did and he only made it to just past his first birthday. A year ago, just about this time, he died. So now it’s just me and Biggie. We miss The Smalls but we're good.

Amp??

So the Bodycraft people told me to check the amps of the treadmill ?????? Even IF I could - had the tools and knowhow - what in the heck do I do then?

And then about an hour later I got a note from Tija (former gym owner and the nicest person on the planet) saying she still had not heard from her treadmill fix it friend but maybe she could come take a look and help me decide what to do.

She is too young still to be vaccinated so she said I could roll it out to the hallway and she could plug it in there. So so so nice. I sent her a note back explaining the lack of failure for the past three days and maybe it was now unbroken so let's hold off.

But, how nice was it of her to offer?!

Meanwhile I went nowhere and probably won't today. Should lost out to nah. Some days are like that.

Birthday Answers

(For my birthday, I asked for Ask Me Anything Questions. I got so many wonderful ones. I'm answering them in entries from here until I get to the end. If you think of something you want to ask, just leave a comment or a note. Deadline is totally not a thing.)

sherlock999 asks:

4. Where did you grow up? How did you get to Seattle?

I grew up in North Carolina - specifically Winston-Salem. I was born in Brooklyn, NY and we lived in New Jersey and then Iowa and then Missouri and then North Carolina from the time I was in 1st grade until I went to college. I went to college near Pittsburgh, PA and then lived in Wheeling, WVa and then South Carolina and then North Carolina and then New York and Connecticut and Minnesota and then California. I was working for IBM and living in Morgan Hill, CA (near San Jose). I had moved wherever IBM had asked me too, joyfully but I was ready to move on. I had this great boss who said okdokey. Where do you want to go? I had two places on my list Seattle and Chicago. He said I had to pick one. I had been to Chicago but I’d never even seen Seattle so I picked Seattle. I had expected to move on, as usual, after a year or two but I fell madly in love with Seattle. That was 30 years ago.

Biggie 2021

The Flickr album of all the days.

Birthday Answers

(For my birthday, I asked for Ask Me Anything Questions. I got so many wonderful ones. I'm answering them in entries from here until I get to the end. If you think of something you want to ask, just leave a comment or a note. Deadline is totally not a thing.)

sherlock999 asks:


5. How the heck did you figure out how to link all your gadgets through whatever software you use? This is a mystery to me.

I wish I had a magic bullet answer for you on this one. But, sadly, I do not. For me, the key to most all technical stuff is a combo of want and embarrassment. I am way too embarrassed to admit I cannot do a lot of things so I just learn how to do them. Plus, I'm fascinated by what they can all do for me and get an enormous amount of satisfaction in figuring shit out.

In the olden days it was more difficult but now, there are a million and one books, web pages, videos all with great hints and tips about how to do whatever it is you want to do IF you really want to do it.

But, if you don’t, then just ask somebody to do it for you.